#you will get so much farther with two sentences than a three paragraph slog

[mishapen-dear]

i've learned how to draw from complete strangers. like just. little internet tutorials, or seeing how someone draws a nose or a jawline and copying them, or watching speedpaints on youtube and learning what the hell an overlay layer was from that. like sure i've learned a lot of my ability from a few studies and experiments, but my perspective rules? colour theory? shape language? i only knew to study and experiment with those Because of all the tutorials i've seen. the second-most given art advice (beyond "practice") is "see what your favourite artist is doing and pick out what you like about their style!" and! idk! there's something so beautiful about how we're all strangers, but there's so much community in the art community? there's so so many strangers who took time out of their own lives to make flesh clouds or anatomy guides or explain perspective rules, and I wouldn't be where i am today without them. i cannot explain how grateful i am to those people, and how happy i am that so many people fucking. share. sometimes i think about a rose drawing tutorial made by some 15 yo that i watched when i was 12. it was pretty basic im not gonna lie, but i drew roses like that for years. I still draw roses like that when i want to spent a little extra time on them. i saw some artist talking about using thin lines so they'd have to get better with their linework rather than relying on the juicy thick lines, and i copied them and can now wield linewidth like a beast (when. i want to . which is not often). i've watched so many speedpaints that render skin in so many different ways that its all boiled down to the one method i use. neck width. hair physics. hair shine or lack thereof. eyes, pupils, mouth. fucking noses and the million variations. clothes???? idk i am like 100% rambling at this point but it's so fuckin nice to look at my art and see the ways i've been shaped by the kindness of other people

#mishapen rambles #i am completely incoherent tonight and thus it is Text Wall time #i bet id be really good at writing an essay rn im so fuckin verbose #anyway this is why i LOVE it when people talk about their creative processes #do you create things? want to talk about it? PLEASE DO #there are people who will see it and will learn from it #even if youre 'not good enough' i swear 12 yo me beginning artist baby would have had no idea how to spot a single one of the mistakes #you're agonized by. again ive now surpassed the skill of that rose tutorial but i still think about it a lot and how i couldnt see any erro #it's stunning to show a non-artist a piece you're not happy with and they're just. amazed #i once drew a real Shit Pile worthy face in front of my dad and one of his work friends and they were blown away by how fast i made it #idk just hey here's a love letter to everyone who shares anything about their creative process #ilu you're doing great and are a vertebrae in the backbone of this community #this all goes for writing too but the circulated writing tricks seem to be. trendified? more often than art tips #hey fun fact you can use 'said' as many fuckin times as you want i prommy #you don't always need whatever big fancy phrase or detailed description #if it hurts to write just don't write it #you will get so much farther with two sentences than a three paragraph slog #this mishapen dear is full of too much love for the creative community and all the people who never knew her but still taught her

[ladylynse]

You're always cranking out works And I just - how??? How do u do it? Cuz I always get stuck and I really wanna write more but I can't and here you are writing a lot consistently! Do u have any tips? Cuz I really need them DX

To be honest, writing a lot consistently would probably better describe me a few years ago. But here’s the thing. Writing is a stress reliever for me. (Or a way to just get my emotions out of me, which is how Broken started. Figured I’d share my pain.) It’s not school, it’s not work, it’s something I can do for myself–and for the lovely people who read and comment upon the work I actually post. So, I try to keep it as something I enjoy rather than something that stresses me out, so I’m more likely to write (or try to write) in my free time. (I still have days where I spend most of my free time reading or binging something on TV. I am sure everyone does. You do not need to feel bad about those days. Sometimes you need to do something more mindless to recover from whatever life has thrown your way.)That being said, I still get stuck. Everyone does. A few years ago, I always had an outline–however vague–of where my stories were going. I’ve been mostly winging Broken and Whirlwind, which is why updates are slower for those. But when I get an idea, I try to jot it down, however vague it is. If I’m on my computer, I’ll write out as much as I can as quickly as I can, in a huge paragraph of me talking to myself about this idea, interspersed with a few choice lines of dialogue. If I’ve got my phone or a pen and paper handy, I’ll write down what I can, even if it’s just a line or two so that I can recall the idea the next day.If a scene isn’t working, leave it. Go write something else. A different scene in the same story or work on another WIP or start a new fic entirely. It might turn into something. It might never see the light of day. It doesn’t matter. Maybe you just need a break to get your head realigned, and you might figure out a new way to write the scene–or a way around it entirely–after you get some sleep. (Or while you’re attempting to fall asleep. Or in the shower. Or driving.)Instead of deleting the work you aren’t happy with, save it in a separate document. (I have a scrap file for every longer story I’ve ever written and a few for various one-shots.) You might be able to scavenge ideas from it later, or you might decide it’s actually not as horrible as you had thought. Don’t worry about writing chronologically. If you have a great idea for a scene while in the middle of a different one, write the one that’s trying to play itself out in your mind. Maybe it’ll fit right in later; more likely, you’ll need to tweak it, and maybe you won’t even use it, but at least you’ll have it down. I typically keep this in my scrap document or farther down in the main document, depending on how far away the scene is from the point I’m actually at in the story and how likely I am to use it in the end.Go back and revise and edit, but don’t strive for perfect right away. Chances are, it’s better than you think it is anyway, and you don’t need to stress yourself over getting it exactly right the first time, which is nigh on impossible. Rereading what you’ve already written can remind you of the story and the characters and might help you see something that will help you out of a tricky situation, and it’s more useful to do that every once in a while as stare at a document and try to figure out how to word a sentence when you aren’t entirely sure what’s happening next. Rereading and editing and planning/jotting down ideas is still writing, even if you’re making no actual progress on the word count of your story.If you can, take a break (at least a few days) from a particular story before going back to do a hard edit. You’ll be more likely to spot some of your own mistakes if you’ve given your mind a chance to forget what it thinks it remembers you writing. If you get a plot bunny, don’t be afraid to play with it for a bit before sticking it in an ideas file for later. It’ll give you an idea of whether or not you might be able to turn it into a story, and you’ll have it written down to examine later if you decide to go back to it. I write far more when I’m excited about an idea than trying to slog through a troublesome scene, so don’t feel bad for running with an idea when you get it.That being said, plan if you can. However vaguely; detail-oriented is going to be overkill unless you have a specific idea for certain scenes. Like I said, I was better off before I started to entirely wing it. (I used to start with an ideas paragraph or three and go from there, jotting down ideas and possible plot points as they came to me and figuring out what worked as I went.) Flexibility is good, but you’re probably more likely to finish something if you have an idea of where you’re going.Try to let the characters drive the plot rather than you forcing them into doing what you want so the plot will go where you want it. They will fight you less and it will turn out to be a better story. Put yourself in their shoes if you can, imagining how they might realistically react to what you threw at them, and write accordingly; chance are, you can still find a way to go where you want to, and the story will seem less forced, and you’ll ultimately be happier with it. If you just can’t get the hang of the characters, do some more ‘research’–start rereading the books or rewatch the show/movie to get a feel for it again. There will still be difficult characters to write, but hopefully they won’t all be as painful.If you trust anyone IRL to read your work, go for it. If you don’t, and you keep getting stuck, see if one of your internet friends minds being a sounding board. You can bounce ideas back and forth, and this will help to get you excited for the story again–because chances are they will be excited for this story as well–and get you more in the mood to write. Just be sure to thank them in your author’s note. *grins*Some people have time to write every day. I don’t, unless I want to stay up really late, which I tend not to do when I need to get up early the next day. There are also days where I have the time to write and I just don’t. Those days are fine. Sometimes, you just need a break. Sometimes, you can get in the mood by reading other fanfiction or rereading/rewatching the actual material, and sometimes you just need to take a stab at something else. If it’s a WIP you’ve started posting, rereading reviews is great motivation, too. Still, it’s okay to take breaks. Sleep. Eat. Go for a walk if it’s not freezing outside. You need to take care of yourself; being exhausted–mentally, physically, emotionally–isn’t going to help you write.If you have an idea and aren’t sure where to start, just try to break it down into smaller parts. You can try rewriting a scene from different perspectives–not every character is going to notice the same details, which could allow you to fool the reader even if you as the writer knows the truth–or try an omniscient POV. If that doesn’t work, move on to the next scene–the second part, if you will–or skip ahead to the middle or the end. The idea is to try not to overwhelm yourself by thinking it’s too big of an idea and you’ll never get it done.Try not to compare yourself to other people; everyone is at different points and has a wealth of different experiences behind their writing. Instead, compare yourself to how you were writing a year ago, two years ago, five years ago. You will have improved. I know I have.…this turned out longer than I’d anticipated, but hopefully something helps! I believe in you; if you want to write, you’ll be able to if you allow yourself to instead of heaping on unreasonable expectations or listening to that little voice in your head that says everything you’re doing is terrible (this is why talking to someone else about your ideas can be a plus; that little voice lies). Try to believe in yourself, too, and when you can’t, lean on those who do believe in you and borrow their strength.

#ladylynse #asks #writing #writing advice #I hope something helps #and that this makes sense #Anonymous